The Burial Ground and Workhouse: Pawlett's Garden

The area covered by this chapter is marked
on fig. 2 as 'Pawlett's Garden', and takes
this name from James Pollett, or Pawlett,
or Paulett, who was the sub-tenant in 1693. Until
its surrender to the Crown in 1536 it had formed
part of the lands of either the Abbot and Convent
of Abingdon or of the Mercers' Company, and
together with the larger adjoining parcel to the
east (described in Chapter XVI) it subsequently
became known as Little Gelding's Close. This
was the land in dispute in 1580–90 between
James Bristow, the tenant under the Crown of
most of the former Abingdon lands, and Thomas
Wilson, the owner of the freehold of most of the
lands formerly owned by the Mercers (see page
24). On the plan of 1585 (Plate 1), the smaller,
western portion of Little Gelding's Close with
which this chapter is concerned is marked as 'The
Queene in the occupation of Mr. Bristow as
Abbington Landes'. The final outcome of the
dispute is not known, but Wilson's claim to the
western portion was evidently not successful, for
the freehold remained in the hands of the Crown
until 1694.

In 1590 Thomas Poultney acquired the lease
of the former Abingdon lands, including the
western part of Little Gelding's Close later known
as Pawlett's Garden, for the effect of the litigation
had been to uphold Bristow's claim that this ground
had formerly belonged to the Abbot and Convent
of Abingdon. It remained part of the leasehold
lands held under the Crown by successive members
of the Pulteney family until shortly after the death
in 1691 of Sir William Pulteney.

The Burial Ground

In 1693 the vestry of St. James bought from
Pulteney's tenant, James Pollett, the sub-lease of
half an acre at the north end of Pawlett's Garden
for use as a burial ground. (fn. 3) On 4 April 1694 the
Crown granted to Pulteney's trustees the freehold
of part of Windmill Field and the whole of Pawlett's Garden, subject to a covenant to set aside
part of the land for a burial ground. (fn. 4) A few days
later the trustees conveyed to the parish the freehold of the new burial ground, which had already
been enclosed with a brick wall built by Mr.
Horsley. (fn. 5)

Figure 35:

Pawlett's Garden, layout plan. Based on the Ordnance Survey, 1870–5

A small shed was erected in 1694 'to shelter
the Minister from the hard weather in Winter'. (fn. 6)
In 1711 the vestry received a complaint about the
smoke issuing from the chimney of Cope the
gravemaker's house in the burial ground. The
smoke was 'noysome and offenceive' and was caused
'by the Burning of Old Rotten Coffin Boards,
and by his Wife's Frequent Landring for People';
both activities were forbidden for the future. (fn. 7)

By 1733 the burial ground was full. Part of it
had been used for the erection of a workhouse in
1725–7 (see page 211) and the only suitable piece
of vacant land available for burials within the
parish lay in the adjoining Pesthouse Close, which
Lord Craven was then attempting for the second
time to free from the incumbrances imposed upon
it in 1687 (fn. 8) (see pages 196, 197). Viscount
Percival (later Earl of Egmont) describes how he
'went to a vestry meeting of St. James's, where we
considered of taking some waste ground belonging
to my Lord Craven, which he offers to let the
parish for 57l odd money per annum to enlarge
their church yard. The ground, 'tis computed,
will hold 12,000 bodies, which rot so fast that 800
may annually be buried in it. This being the only
ground we could get, and the necessity of the
parish requiring it, we agreed to give that rent'. (fn. 9)
The north-east corner of Pesthouse Close, which
adjoined the west side of the existing burial
ground, was accordingly taken on lease from Lord
Craven, and George Wyatt, bricklayer, was employed to enclose it with a brick wall. (fn. 10)

Both the burial ground in Pawlett's Garden and its extension in Pesthouse Close were
subsequently incorporated into the ever-expanding
curtilage of the workhouse, whose history is
described below. In 1789 an Act of Parliament (fn. 11)
enabled the parish to acquire land on the east side
of Hampstead Road, St. Pancras, for use as a
burial ground. This cemetery was closed in
1853 (fn. 12) and converted in 1887 into a public garden,
now known as St. James's Gardens. (fn. 13)

St. James's Workhouse

The site of St. James's workhouse lay between
Poland Street and Marshall Street and is now
occupied by a garage. The first workhouse building was erected there in 1725–7 on what was
then a vacant corner of the parish burial ground in
Pawlett's Garden (see above). Subsequently more
land was taken in from the adjoining Pesthouse
Close, and the original workhouse building and
yards were rebuilt and extended to cover a wider
area. The workhouse was administered by a
committee of the vestry of St. James until 1868,
when the Westminster Union was formed to take
over the poor law responsibilities of the two
parishes of St. James and St. Anne. The workhouse continued to function until 1913 and during
the war of 1914–18 was occupied for a time by
refugees. In 1925 the Westminster City Council,
in whom most of the property was vested as the
heirs to St. James's vestry, leased the disused
premises to a property company for use as a
garage. The workhouse buildings were then
adapted for this purpose.

The first proposal to build a workhouse for St.
James's parish was made at a meeting of the
vestry in December 1724, (fn. 14) an Act of Parliament
of the previous year having empowered parish
authorities to purchase houses to lodge the poor
'and there to keep, maintain and employ all such
poor persons and take the benefit of [their]
work'. (fn. 15) This Act did not originate any new
policy, but merely gave statutory authority to
existing practices, for many parishes already
maintained workhouses of their own. St. James's
had been supporting a poorhouse for its aged and
impotent paupers since 1688. This consisted of
six small houses in Salter's Court (part of Smith's
Court on the west side of Great Windmill Street)
which were leased from John Tully, an undertenant of Sir William Pulteney. (fn. 16) No work seems
to have been expected from the inmates, for in
1690 the churchwardens were required by the
vestry to take care that the houses were not
occupied by persons who could afford to pay the
rent but that 'such as are upon charity, if they be
found fit objects, do stay.' The poor were then put
into two of the houses and the other four let
'towards paying the rent of the said court to Mr.
Tully'. (fn. 17) Women were employed to tend the
inmates, and the place became known as 'the
nurses houses'. The establishment was removed
to New Street (now Ingestre Place) in 1721 and
remained open until 1748. (fn. 18)

The 'nurses houses' harboured only the sick
and impotent paupers. Until 1724 the able-bodied
poor were still unprovided for, and it was for them
that the original St. James's workhouse was
erected in 1725–7. In December 1724 a vestry
committee was set up to consider possible sites for
the new establishment and eventually it was
decided to erect the intended building on part of
the burial ground in 'a space almost free from
graves'. There were however a number of burial
pits (possibly dating from the Great Plague of
1665) sunk there which 'might prove offensive and
unwholesome', (fn. 19) and these were covered over. (fn. 20)

John Ludby, carpenter, had been commissioned
by the vestry to draw up a plan for a building and
by March 1725 his 'drafts for the workhouse' (for
which he was paid £10) were exhibited for
tenders. (fn. 21) In May Ludby's own tender of £2600,
'the most reasonable and advantageous to the
parish', was accepted. (fn. 22)

Building work began soon after but progressed
very slowly. In August 1726 The Daily Journal
reported that 'while the Officers of the Parish of
St. James's at Westminster, were making Merry
at a Tavern, the Workhouse in the Pest-fields
(near finish'd) for the Reception of their Poor, was
blown down by a sudden Gust of Wind; to the no
small satisfaction of the Lazars, who testify'd their
Joy by Loud Acclamations, Bonfires and other
Illuminations etc., in the Evening'. (fn. 23) Shortly
afterwards the vestrymen employed Thomas
Dance, the surveyor of Guy's Hospital, to examine
the completed (and supposedly still standing)
portion of the workhouse. The western end,
which had fallen down, was then rebuilt by
Ludby at his own cost, upon enlarged foundations.
The whole building was not complete for another
year and it was not until July 1727 that Dance
reported to the vestry on the state of their newly
finished workhouse. Apart from some defective
brickwork and a few minor faults, he found that
the building had been erected in conformity with
the specifications. He was paid six guineas and his
assistant, Mr. Phillips the carpenter, one guinea.
The latter was probably Thomas Phillips, who
did much building in the parish in the 1720's and
30's. John Ludby undertook to make good any
faulty brickwork during his lifetime. (fn. 24) The total
cost of the new workhouse, including furniture,
was approximately £4000. (fn. 25)

The management of the house was farmed out
to a contractor, a Mr. Marriot, who received
£200 per annum from the parish. (fn. 26) Marriot was
probably the contractor or farmer of other new
workhouses built under the Act of 1723, for in
1724 the parish of Hemel Hempstead made a
contract with a Mr. Matthew Marriott to manage
their workhouse, and a similar contract was
entered into by the parish of Luton. (fn. 27) The St.
James's poor were put to work upon flax and wool
and a chaplain was appointed to administer to their
spiritual needs. (fn. 28)

During the first years of its existence the affairs
of the workhouse were in great disorder. Marriot
neglected his duties and was dismissed, the rules
for admittance were not observed and the paupers,
when allowed out, begged in the streets. The
inventories and accounts were never kept and the
master was seldom found in the workhouse.
Finally in 1730 the justices and the governors of
the poor (as the members of the vestry committee
were now called) refused to act so that all the
responsibility and trouble fell upon the churchwardens and overseers. (fn. 29)

In 1736 the management of the workhouse
was again entrusted to a committee of the vestry
known as the governors of the poor. All the poor
over the age of six were to be kept at work until
six o'clock in summer and until dark in winter,
upon the flax, wool and hemp provided by the
vestry. The children under six were left in the
care of a schoolmistress who was to teach them to
read. The paupers' diet (chiefly porridge, boiled
meat, bread, cheese and beer) at the three daily
meals was minutely regulated. They were to be
given clean linen once a week and clean sheets once
a month and there were not to be more than two
adults or three children in each bed. On Sundays
the poor (excluding dissenters, for whom no
religious provision was made) were to attend
divine service and then be allowed out until
8.30 p.m., with heavy penalties for drunkenness or
begging in the streets. Finally there was to be a
weekly inspection of the workhouse by one
vestryman and one churchwarden. (fn. 30)

Despite these reforms the rector reported in
January 1739/40 that the workhouse was in a very
bad state; the premises were unclean and the poor
not 'regularly managed'. (fn. 31) In the following year
it was again reported to the vestry that the workhouse (or 'rather the Infirmary there being no
Work done') was in a 'very nasty condition, the
stench hardly supportable, poor creatures almost
naked and the living go to bed to the dead'. At
the same meeting the question of boarding out the
younger children was considered, but the vestry
finally decided that if 'the children about two or
three years old were to be carried out sometimes
by the elder women into the [workhouse] yard
for air, it would greatly contribute to their
healths'. The greatest scourge was the 'Scorbutick
Distemper [scurvy] which few escape, some dieing
a lingering miserable death', and which was caused
by 'the want of a sharp person to confine the Infected in some apartment by themselves'. (fn. 32) In
1742 the vestry resolved to close down the workhouse, which was let to an upholsterer; (fn. 33) part of
it was later used by the parish overseers as an
office to pay outdoor relief. (fn. 34)(fn. 1)

By 1762 there were eleven hundred poor entitled to relief in the parish and they received
between six and seven thousand pounds every
year. (fn. 35) The financial and administrative difficulties were too great for the four parish overseers,
the governors of the poor appointed in 1736
having long ceased to act. In 1762 an Act of
Parliament was therefore obtained which allowed
a new committee of the vestry, also to be named
the governors of the poor, to take over responsibility for the administration of poor relief in the
parish. (fn. 36) The workhouse was then re-opened in the
summer of 1762 and a new set of rules of
management was drawn up. The poor were
put to work on a wide variety of tasks, including
silk weaving and the making of quilted petticoats, for which new workshops appear to have
been built. (fn. 37)

In 1782 the governors of the poor transferred
the children in the workhouse to premises in King
(now Kingly) Street, which had previously been
Foubert's Riding Academy. This new establishment became known as the parish school of industry. Its administration was entirely separate
from that of the workhouse and a conscious effort
seems to have been made by the governors of the
poor to educate and train the children in their care
(see page 180). At about the same time the very
young children were put out to nurse at Wimbledon. (fn. 38)

By 1814 the workhouse buildings had become
'very delapidated and dangerous', (fn. 39) although this
is not apparent in the engraving of 1809 reproduced on Plate 38b. There was severe overcrowding, with many sleeping three in a bed, and in
1815 a contagious fever broke out among the
inmates. The sick were hastily removed to a building which had been erected in one of the yards
of the workhouse as an armoury by the nowredundant St. James's Volunteers. In 1817 another temporary infirmary was opened in premises
taken in Broad Street. (fn. 40) By this time additional
accommodation inside the already overcrowded
workhouse was required for the children from
the parish school of industry in King Street, for
the premises there were to be pulled down for the
formation of Regent Street. (fn. 41) In 1816 the vestry
therefore decided that a new and enlarged workhouse was 'absolutely and indespesibly [sic]
requisite and necessary'. (fn. 42)

The architect Thomas Hardwick was commissioned to draw up a plan for a new building
on the existing site, which was to be extended by
the purchase of adjoining houses in Marshall
Street from Lord Craven. (fn. 43) To carry out this
rebuilding scheme and to obtain compulsory purchasing powers over the adjoining properties, another Act of Parliament, which received the royal
assent on 20 June 1816, was obtained. (fn. 44)

Hardwick's plans were never fully carried out,
and no new building work began until five years
after the passing of the Act. During this period
a number of houses in Marshall Street and
Munday's and Brown's Courts were purchased
from Lord Craven (it being intended that they
should be demolished and their sites incorporated
into the workhouse curtilage), (fn. 45) and makeshift
repairs to the existing buildings were carried out.
In July 1820 the children from the school of
industry were moved into the workhouse. (fn. 46)

A new dormitory block was erected in conformity with Hardwick's 'general plan' on the
south side of the workhouse yard in 1821. The
cost was £1995 and the builder was Archibald
Reid of Pimlico. Other improvements and alterations to existing buildings carried out at the same
time cost another £5000. (fn. 47) Some of the new
buildings were sited upon parts of the workhouse
yard covering the former burial ground. The
foundations were therefore built by the able-bodied paupers working behind a tarpaulin, the
governors being 'decidely of the opinion, for
obvious reasons, that such excavations should be
done with as much privacy as the nature of the
thing will admit, and exposed as little as possible to
the public eye'. The unearthed human remains
were then deposited in a new brick vault. (fn. 48)

During the next thirty years little new building
work seems to have been carried out at the workhouse, though repairs and minor alterations to the
old buildings must have been continuous. The
pressure on accommodation in the workhouse was
alleviated in 1851, when the children were removed to Wandsworth where new school buildings
were erected to the designs of Charles Lee. (fn. 49)

The foundations of many of the buildings had
always been insecure and in 1856 a burst watermain under the chapel resulted in wide cracks and
subsidence, to the accompaniment of 'a great
crashing in the centre'. The inmates in the wards
on the floors above the chapel had to be moved
and the building underpinned. (fn. 50) Two years later
the northern range of buildings, which had been
erected in 1725–7, was found to be 'fairly worn
out'. The governors' architect, Charles Lee,
feared that 'a large portion … would be condemned directly if seen by the Police Surveyor'
and he proposed a complete rebuilding at a cost of
£8300. His plans were made and approved within
two months. By this time the disintegration of the
old building had become alarmingly rapid. During
the night of 20 May 1858 the female inmates,
hearing 'a noise in the building resembling the
snapping of burning Timber or the Cracking of a
Whip', rushed out of the building in their night-clothes. In the morning more cracks in the
structure were found, 'which plainly indicates that
the building is continually moving'. Temporary
accommodation had therefore to be found outside
the workhouse for the women paupers. (fn. 51)

At a meeting of the governors of the poor in
July 1858 it was suggested that advantage should
be taken 'of the necessity which has arisen for rebuilding the Northern portion of the Workhouse,
to endeavour to open up a line of Communication
from Portland Street [now D'Arblay Street], to
Marshall Street', and the consequent removal of
part of the establishment to another site. The
scheme was submitted to the vestry with a plan
of the proposed redevelopment by Charles Lee.
The governors' scheme entailed demolishing most
of the buildings (including the decaying north
range) and removing the major portion of the
workhouse establishment to healthier surroundings outside London. The infirmary and reception and casual wards were to be rehoused in new
buildings on part of the existing site, the remainder
of which was to be used to lay out the new street
with fifteen new houses on its north side and, on
the south side, a vestry hall and an ornamental
entrance to the adjoining Marshall Street Baths.
The scheme did not, however, meet with the
approval of the more cautious vestrymen, who
considered that the removal of the workhouse into
the suburbs would create hardship for the paupers
and would endanger the health of the aged, for
'there can be no doubt the country air would increase the sickness among them, it being invariably
found that old persons thrive much better in
warm, than exposed situations'. (fn. 52)

The original intention to rebuild the demolished
wing was therefore carried out in accordance with
Lee's first plan and the tender of George Myers
of Lambeth for £6190 was accepted. (fn. 53) The old
wing was completely demolished and the materials
sold for £219. Work on the foundations began in
October 1858 and the foundation stone was laid on
3 December. The building was sufficiently completed for the governors to inspect the interior in
the following May. (fn. 54)

In 1868 the responsibility for the administration of the poor law in the two parishes of St.
James and St. Anne was taken over by the
guardians of the newly-formed Westminster
Union, and new Union offices were required.
Between 1848 and 1855 the vestry of St. James
had purchased Nos. 49–53 (consec.) Poland
Street, (fn. 55) a group of small houses backing on to the
workhouse. In 1871–2 they were demolished and
a new office block (with workhouse wards on the
upper floors) was erected to the designs of William
Lee, by Messrs. Hill, Keddall and Waldram at a
cost of £15,451 (fn. 56) (Plate 140a).

By the beginning of the twentieth century the
presence of a poorhouse in the centre of a closely
built-up and increasingly commercialized area had
become an anachronism. In 1901–2, under
pressure from the Westminster City Council
which was anxious to use the site for the erection
of workmen's dwellings, the guardians considered
the disposal of the workhouse and the erection of
a new institution in Wandsworth. (fn. 57) But this
scheme came to nothing and it was not until 1913,
after the amalgamation of the various Boards of
Guardians inside the City of Westminster, that the
St. James's workhouse was finally closed. The
guardians and the City Council, as the successors
of the St. James's vestry, prepared to sell the
property but the war of 1914–18 intervened,
bringing to the former workhouse a succession of
foreign, chiefly Belgian, refugees. After the war,
the proposal to build workmen's dwellings was
again revived, but ultimately the site was leased to
a property company in 1925. The existing workhouse buildings were then reconstructed and extended as a garage. The surviving part of the last
addition to the workhouse, the Union offices
erected in 1871–2 in Poland Street, is in separate
occupation and is externally little altered.

Nos. 7–10 (consec.) Dufour's Place And 48–58 (even) Broadwick Street

In January 1719/20 and May 1721 William
Pulteney leased two pieces of ground to the south
of the burial ground (later the site of the workhouse) to Paul Dufour of St. James's, esquire.
Dufour covenanted to spend at least £800 within
two years in building good and substantial brick
houses on some part of the site, (fn. 58) and by 1721 had
built four houses which were approached along a
narrow passage leading out of Broad(wick)
Street (fig. 35). These houses were later
numbered 7–10 Dufour's Court, which is now
called Dufour's Place. No. 7 was occupied from
1757 to 1764 by Matthew Brettingham, (fn. 59)
possibly the elder or younger architect of that
name. No. 9 was taken over in 1830 by William
Walter Smith and in 1833 a school was opened
on the ground on the east side of the house. (fn. 59) The
school survived until 1923. (fn. 60)

In 1722–3 six houses (now Nos. 48–58) were
erected in Broad(wick) Street to the south of
Dufour's Court. (fn. 59) The direct contractor was
John Mist, the paviour, who later worked in
Sackville Street, another part of the Pulteney
estate. He entered into an agreement with
William Pulteney on 19 December 1718 under
terms similar to those required of other builders
engaged in the development of the estate, i.e. to
build houses of the second rate according to the
provisions of the Act of 1667 for the rebuilding
of the City of London. (fn. 61) Mist was a party to
most of, if not all the leases, one of which was
granted to Paul Dufour (see the table, below).
The chief occupants of note were: at No. 52,
Abraham Kirkman, a member of the family of
harpsichord makers, 1772–91; at No. 54,
Charles Bridgman, the landscape gardener,
1723–38, and the family business of harpsichord
and pianoforte manufacture founded by Jacob
Kirkman, 1750–1832; at No. 56, Jacob Kirkman, the composer and member of the family
carrying on the business at No. 54, 1780–1801;
and at No. 58, William Hewson, perhaps the
surgeon and partner of Dr. William Hunter,
1770–3. (fn. 62) In 1960 a Building Preservation
Order on these houses was confirmed.

The development of Dufour's Court was completed in 1736 when six houses (Nos. 1–6 Dufour's
Court) were built on the west side of the passage,
on land forming part of the adjoining estate
belonging to Lord Craven (see page 205).

Nos. 48–58 Broadwick Street make up a uniform row of houses each containing a basement
and four storeys (Plates 126c, 142c, figs. 36–7).
Possibly the fourth storey is a later addition, since
the back walls are still carried up for only three
storeys, but it is difficult to find any change in the
brickwork. The fronts of Nos. 48 and 50, moreover, have been entirely resurfaced, while the
fourth storey and part of the third storey of Nos.
52, 54 and 56 have been rebuilt following bomb
damage in the war of 1939–45. The fronts are
three windows wide and built of dull-pink stock
brick interspersed with occasional yellow bricks,
each of the three lower storeys being finished with
a raised bandcourse of red brick. The windows
have segmental gauged arches of red brick and
contain recessed box-frames, although the double-hung sashes are later in date. No. 58 varies from
the general pattern in having no bandcourses above
the second and third storeys even though it has
them, in ordinary pink brick, on the side wall to
Dufour's Place. Above the third storey, however,
is a moulded cornice, returned at each end, which
may be of painted stone but is more probably a
later addition of stucco. The ground storeys of all
the houses have been stuccoed in the nineteenth
century, and drastically altered at Nos. 48 and 50,
but in every case the original carved wooden
doorcases have been preserved. The moulded
architraves have number-plaques in place of
keyblocks and at either side are narrow panelled
pilasters surmounted by ornate consoles supporting
moulded cornices. Most of the doors have been
replaced, but the original six-panelled ones with
ovolo-moulded frames remain at Nos. 48 and 50.
The doorcases can probably be attributed to John
Meard, carpenter, who was the original lessee of
No. 56, for there are exact duplicates of them at
Nos. 1–7 Meard Street, Soho. All the basement
areas remain open, but the railings have been replaced, mostly in the nineteenth century.

Figure 36:

Nos. 48–58 (even) Broadwick Street, elevations and plans

Figure 37:

No. 50 Broadwick Street, section

The interiors are, or were originally, identical
in plan and this also seems to have been much the
case with the finishings. There is a single front
and back room on each floor with a small closet
projecting beyond the back room, the latter having
beside it a dog-legged staircase reached from the
street by a narrow passage. Except where a later
alteration has been made, the entrance passage,
rooms and staircase compartment on the ground
and first floors are lined with raised-and-fielded
ovolo-moulded panelling finished with a moulded
dado-rail and a box-cornice. The shutters and sixpanelled doors, the latter with simple moulded
architraves, have the same type of panel, and
flanking the opening from the entrance passage
into the staircase compartment are panelled Doric,
or, at Nos. 48 and 50, fluted Corinthian pilasters.
No. 56 seems to have been exceptional in having
at either side of the chimney-breast in its ground-floor front room, a round-headed semi-circular
niche with a moulded architrave, part of the dado
panelling breaking forward below it to form a kind
of pedestal. The back room and the closet have
corner fireplaces and there remain some simple
stone chimneypieces, moulded on the inner and
outer edges and with shaped lintels. In the firstfloor back room of No. 54 the chimneypiece has
also a wooden architrave carved with egg-and-dart. The lower flights of the staircases have cut
strings decorated with carved step-ends, and
turned balusters supporting a moulded handrail
which is carried over column newels, but the
flights above the first floor are more simple,
having only moulded closed strings.

The sites of Nos. 7–10 Dufour's Place are now
occupied by the Marshall Street Baths, but a
photograph in the possession of the London
County Council shows that No. 7 (and probably
No. 8 before it was stuccoed) was almost identical
with Nos. 48–58 Broadwick Street. It differed in
containing only three storeys and a garret, the
ground-storey windows, apparently unaltered,
having flat arches, and the doorcase being without
a number-plaque.

The east side of Dufour's Place to the north of
the passage-way is occupied by a red brick warehouse block of middle or late nineteenth-century
date, built round a court-yard. The small house
to the north of it, now known as No. 10, has
probably been converted from an older stable
building.

DUFOUR'S PLACE AND BROADWICK STREET (see fig. 35) LEASES GRANTED BY WILLIAM PULTENEY

No. 39 Broadwick Street: The John Snow Public House

Formerly No. 7 Cambridge Street

The public house on the corner of Broadwick
Street and Lexington Street was for many years
called the Newcastle-upon-Tyne but its name was
changed in 1956 to commemorate Dr. John
Snow's association with the area (fn. 60) (see page 223).
There may well have been a public house here
since 1719. (fn. 64)

This public house is a plain, three-storeyed
brick building which probably dates entirely
from the mid to late nineteenth century, although a coating of cream paint makes it look
older. The elaborate late Victorian ground
storey has wide windows alternating with round-arched doorways, the panelled pilasters between
them supporting an entablature.

Nos. 51 And 53 Lexiton Street

Formerly Nos. 9 and 8 Cambridge Street

Although in Pawlett's Garden, these houses
formed the northern end of a range comprising
Nos. 41–53 (odd) Lexington Street, and are
described with Nos. 41–49 on page 135.

Footnotes

1. There is a reference in the vestry minutes of 5 June 1742 to a letter received from Sir Richard Manningham, the
celebrated obstetrician of the day. He had heard that the workhouse was to be closed and offered to take the 'Poor Women
with Child' from the workhouse into his lying-in infirmary. Manningham is said to have established in 1739 a school of
midwifery at the St. James's parish infirmary (possibly at 'the nurses houses' in New Street). There are, however, no references to this in the vestry minutes, although in 1739 he did publish proposals for the establishment of such a charity in
connexion with a small lying-in hospital which he had already opened elsewhere and which he hoped would be supported
by the parishes of London and Westminster.

2. In some cases the information obtained from the Middlesex Land Register has been supplemented from the Survey of
1742 in the Sutton Estate Office.